End-of-the-world prophecies

For 2009 or 2010. All have failed so far.

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Overview: (Repeated)

Predictions have been made of several events that some Christians believe are related: the second coming of Jesus, the war of Armageddon, the arrival on earth of the Antichrist, the Tribulation, the Rapture, some horrendous natural disaster, etc.  Jewish, Islamic, psychic and occult predictions have also been offered as well. ₁

In this section of our web site, we have listed over 7 dozen past predictions of TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) which have one factor in common: none have ever come true. There is every likelihood that most (perhaps all) of these future predictions will not materialize either.

Here were 8 additional predictions for 2009, all of which failed. We have located four for 2010 and expect them all to fail as well.

Disclaimer:

We offer no guarantees that the prophets listed below actually made these predictions. We have described their alleged predictions as they were reported on the Web, in newspapers, books, etc. We do not have the resources to track down original source material.

Predictions for 2009:

	1999 to 2009: Jerry Falwell predicted in 1999-JAN that Jesus could return within ten years. But before that can happen, he said that the Antichrist must appear. Referring to the Antichrist, Falwell said: "Is he alive and here today? Probably. Because when he appears during the Tribulation period he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he'll be Jewish. Of course he'll pretend to be Christ. And if in fact the Lord is coming soon, and he'll be an adult at the presentation of himself, he must be alive somewhere today." Rabbi James Rudin of the American Jewish Committee suggested that Christians should be careful about making such comments. His said that Falwell's statement "plays into some latent and historical anti-Semitism from the past." 2 Rev. Falwell later apologized for his comment. Falwell died on 2007-MAY-17, and so did not live long enough to see the prediction fail.
	2009-FEB-13: An unknown group or individual called "Vast entity now unsurpassed" predicted the end at 23:31 UTC on this date. Their reasoning is: As many as 270 million Monarch butterflies were wiped out in a freak storm in central Mexico where they migrated for the winter in January 2002. This would signal the beginning of change. In the beginning, God cursed Adam. "For dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return." (Genesis. 3:19) This is represented by Ash Wednesday. This would be the start of the seven years of the great tribulation. In 2002, Ash Wednesday fell on February 13th, seven years from this day would bring us to February 2009. The 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War assured national survival and forty-two months of travail. "But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months." (Revelation 11:2) This signifies forty-two years after 1967, which would yield the year 2009. On February 13, 2009, the Unix time number reaches 1234567890 seconds at 23:31:30 UTC (a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence). This day fell exactly seven years to the day of Ash Wednesday, February 13th, 2002.
	Sometime in 2009: Jack Smith predicts that the Fifth Seal mentioned in the biblical book of Revelation refers to the interval 1798 to 2009 when Christians were free to spread the Gospel worldwide and be "witness against all nations." The Sixth Seal refers to the interval from 2009 to 2012 when God's judgment begins. This will involve the destruction of the "Scarlet Woman" (Rome and the Vatican), the Angel ascending from the East, and the destruction of the new "Roman Empire."
	2009-FEB-13: We received an Email from "The Final Peace" who predicted that the Rapture will occur on this date,. She believed that she had communicated directly with both God and Satan. Her predictions were based on a number of sources: The 3 year countdown began on 2005-AUG, right before Katrina hit. Zeus' birthday is FEB-13. FEB-13 is a Friday the 13th. The time stamp in the Unix operating system is 1234567890 at 23:31:30 UTC on this day. References in the Gospel of Thomas.
	2009-MAR-07: David Wilkerson believed that the difficult economic times were not a recession or even the beginning of a depression. They representrd the start of a time when God would express his wrath upon humanity. He believed that 1,000 fires would come to New York City at a time that "is not far off.", They would combine to destroy all of the city and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Other similar disasters would occur in major cities worldwide. He recommended that everyone lay in a 30 day supply of food, toiletries and other essentials -- not a bad idea at all times. He believes that born-again Christians would emerge unscathed. Presumably, God would make certain that all non-saved individuals will die.
	2009-JUN-21: An anonymous Emailer believed that 2010-DEC-21 is the Abomination of Desolation, when the Antichrist says that he is God. Subtracting 3 years 6 months from this date lead us to 2009-JUN-21. He looks for the Rapture to occur late in June, perhaps at the time of the solstice.
	2009-MAY-JUN: A Russian Christian group called "Heavenly Jerusalem" established a new sect called the "True Russian Orthodox Church." Their leader is Pyotr Kutnetsov, 43, an engineer. One of their more interesting beliefs is that their members will become judges after death and will decide who will go to Heaven and Hell. During 2007-NOV, about thirty members barricaded themselves in an underground bunker that they had dug in the Penza region of Russia, to await the Apocalypse. Kutnetsov was arrested, found by psychiatrists to be unfit to stand trial, sent to a mental institution, and later released. The end-of-the world prophecy did not come to pass. They believe that a 1,300 day clock started some years ago when the Russian Orthodox Church accepted a taxpayer's identification number from the government. The Apocalypse was expected when the clock reaches zero in 2009-JUN or perhaps sometime in 2011. 7,8
	2009-AUG-29: John Dutchman claims to be an astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory. He allegedly believed that a small star is passing through the Oort Cloud, the area surrounding the solar system from whic comets originate. He says that the gravitational pull of the star is forcing at least a third of all of the comets into the sun -- over one million. He predicts that the earth will be hit by from one to many hundreds of comets, ranging in size from 100 meters to near 600 miles in diameter. He expected the collisions to happen on 2009-AUG-29.

Predictions for 2010:

	Phil Stone of Bible Time interprets the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 symbolically. He computes the date of the second coming of Jesus as being 2,000 years after Jesus' visit to the Temple at the age of 12 in the year 12 CE. Because the Biblical calendar is slightly shorter than the Solar calendar, we hit the 'two day" mark in 2010..." Actually, most theologians believe that Jesus was born between 4 and 7 BCE. This means that Jesus should have returned sometime between 2003 and 2006. 3
	"Second Messenger" predicts that the Rapture would happen on 2009-OCT-31 (Halloween) and that the end of the world would occur on 2010-APR-02. He has a blog explaining how this date was computed from biblical references. It is based on the belief that creation happened during 11990 BCE and the flood of Noah occurred during 4990 BCE, an interval of exactly 7,000 years. Working forward from the flood, another 7,000 year interval takes us to 2010. The first date has since proven to be false, so we can probably assume that the second date will be as well. 4
	"The Analyzer" notes that the Worldwide Church of God announced on 2004-MAY-14 the sale of part of its west campus. He believes that this is "the abomination that maketh desolate" mentioned in Daniel 12:11-12. According to Daniel 8:14, the temple will be cleansed exactly 2,300 days later, on 2010-AUG-31. 5
	Thomas Chase of Revelation 13 predicts that the Battle of Armageddon could occur during 2010-August to November. Of particular interest is 2010-SEP-09 -- the "... Jewish New Year's Day Rosh Ha Shanh, when, according to biblical prophecy, the Battle of Armageddon may occur." 6

Related essays:

	The end of the Millennium: What people thought would happen: The Y2K Problems: Social, Economic, and Spiritual Aspects
	Premillennialism and other competing Christian theories about the end of the world.

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Tom McIver, "The end of the world: An annotated bibliography," McFarland & Company, (1999) You can read a review and perhaps buy this book from amazon.com online bookstore. "This bibliography contains careful and bias-free annotations of close to 3,500 works written over many centuries about the end of the world." It mainly lists Christian sources, but also includes some Jewish, Islamic, psychic and occult predictions. An Amazon.com reader regards this book as "Indispensable for serious researchers."
2. "Left Behind Series: Interpreting the signs," Tyndale House Publishers, at: https://secure.agoramedia.com/
3. Phil Stone, "The Parable of the Good Samaritan," Bible Time, at: http://www.bibletime.com/
4. Second Messenger, "The Key of Smyrna," 2008-APR-04, at: http://thekeyofsmyrna.blogspot.com/
5. "Time Line," Revelations of the Bible, at: http://www.revelationsofthebible.com/
6. Thomas Chase, "Revelation 13: prophecy calendar," at: http://revelation13.net/
7. "True Russian Orthodox Church / Heavenly Jerusalem," Apologetics Index, at: http://www.apologeticsindex.org/
8. "Russian Sects Part Two: Waiting for Doomsday in the Penza Region," Rianovosti, 2009-JUN-06, at: http://en.rian.ru/

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Latest update and review: 2010-FEB-20
Author: B.A. Robinson

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